Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-rkxrd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T06:22:55.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effects of concentrate energy source on silage feeding behaviour and energy utilization by lactating dairy cows offered grass silages with differing intake characteristics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

T. W. J. Keady  and
C. S. Mayne
T. W. J. Keady
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, Co. Down, BT26 6DR
C. S. Mayne
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, Co. Down, BT26 6DR
Get access

Abstract

The effects of concentrate energy source on feeding behaviour and energy utilization, when offered with grass silages of differing intake characteristics, were studied in lactating dairy cows. A total of five silages, which differed in fermentation and intake characteristics, were prepared. Silages A, B and D and silages C and E were harvested from primary regrowths and secondary regrowths respectively of predominantly perennial ryegrass swards. Herbage was ensiled either pre-wilted or unwilted and either untreated or treated with a bacterial inoculant or formic acid based additives. Five concentrates (0s, 25s, 50s, 75s and 100s) were formulated to contain similar concentrations of crude protein, effective rumen degradable protein and metabolizable energy (ME) but using different carbohydrate sources to achieve a wide range of starch concentrations. The silages were offered ad libitum, supplemented with 10 kg concentrates per head per day. In experiment 1, a partially balanced change-over design experiment involving 50 lactating dairy cows was undertaken to examine the effects of concentrate energy source on silage feeding behaviour. Silages A, B, C, D and E were each supplemented with concentrates Os, 25s, 50s, 75s and 100s. Concentrate energy source did not alter (P > 0·05) silage feeding behaviour. The number of meals per day decreased (P < 0·01) as silage dry-matter concentration increased. Experiment 2, a completely randomized experiment involving 18 lactating dairy cows, was undertaken to examine the effects of concentrate energy source on energy utilization with cows offered silages B, C and D. These were supplemented with 10 kg/day of concentrates Os, 50s and 100s. Concentrate energy source had little effect (P > 0·05) on ME intake, energy output or on the efficiency of utilization of ME for lactation (k1). In experiment 3, the effect of concentrate energy source on silage preference was examined in a factorial design experiment involving 12 lactating dairy cows. Silages B, C and D were supplemented with concentrates Os, 50s and 100s. Concentrate energy source did not alter (P > 0·05) silage preference. It is concluded that with silages of differing fermentation and intake characteristics but of similar digestibility, concentrate energy source had no effect on feeding behaviour, silage preference or energy utilization. Furthermore there was no evidence of concentrate energy source by silage type interactions on silage feeding behaviour and preference, or energy utilization.

Keywords

dairy cowsenergy consumptionenergy sourcegrass silagelactation
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 67 , Issue 2 , October 1998 , pp. 225 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural and Food Research Council. 1990. Technical Committee on Responses to Nutrients. Report number 5. Nutritive requirements of ruminant animals: energy. Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews, Series B 60: 729–804.Google Scholar
Agricultural and Food Research Council. 1993. Energy and protein requirements of ruminants. CAB International, Wallingford, UKGoogle Scholar
Agricultural Research Council. 1980. The nutrient requirements of ruminant livestock. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough.Google Scholar
Aston, K., Thomas, C., Daley, S. R. and Sutton, J. D. 1994. Milk production from grass silage diets: effects of the composition of supplementary concentrates. Animal Production 59: 335–344.Google Scholar
Beever, D. E., Cammell, S. B., Sutton, J. D., Spooner, M. C., Haines, M. J. and Harland, J. I. 1989. Effect of concentrate type on energy utilisation in lactating dairy cows. In Energy metabolism of farm animals (ed. Honing, Y. van der and Close, W. H.), pp. 33–36. European Association for Animal Production publication no. 43.Google Scholar
Beever, D. E., Sutton, J. D., Cammell, S. B., Haines, M. J., Spooner, M. C. and Harland, J. I. 1991. Energy balance for dairy cows given grass silage with either barley or molassed sugar beet feed in the concentrates. Animal Production 52: 573–574 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Buchanan-Smith, J. G. 1990. An investigation into palatability as a factor responsible for reduced intake of silage by sheep. Animal Production 50: 253–260.Google Scholar
Butler, T. M. 1973. A comparison between concentrates containing barley-soyabean meal and dried molassed beet pulp-groundnut meal for milk production. Irish Journal of Agricultural Research 12: 329–331.Google Scholar
Castle, M. E., Gill, M. S. and Watson, J. N. 1981. Silage and milk production: a comparison between barley and dried sugar-beet pulp as silage supplements. Grass and Forage Science 36: 319–324.Google Scholar
Cooper, S. D. B., Kyriazakis, I., Nolan, J. V. and Anderson, D. H. 1995. Diet selection in sheep: the role of the rumen environment in the selection of a diet from two feeds that differ in their energy density. British Journal of Nutrition 74: 39–54.Google Scholar
Dulphy, J. P. and Faverdin, P. 1987. L'ingestion alimentaire chez les ruminants: modalites et phenomenes associes. Reproduction, Nutrition, Development 27: 129–155.Google Scholar
Elizalde, H. F. 1993. Studies on the effects of chemical and physical characteristics of grass silage and degree of competition per feeding space on the feeding behaviour of lactating dairy cows. Ph.D. thesis, Queen's University Belfast.Google Scholar
Forbes, J. M. 1995. Voluntary food intake and diet selectors farm animals. CAB International Publications, Oxon, U.K.Google Scholar
Forbes, J. M., Jackson, D. A., Johnson, C. L., Stockill, P. and Hoyle, B. S. 1986. A method for the automatic monitoring of food intake and feed behaviour of individual cattle kept in groups. Research and Development in Agriculture 3: 175–180.Google Scholar
Gill, M., Sargeant, A. and Evans, R. T. 1987. The effect of type of silage and level of concentrate on pattern of eating in dairy cows. Proceedings of the eighth silage conference, Hurley, pp. 63–64.Google Scholar
Gordon, F. J., Porter, M. G., Mayne, C. S., Unsworth, E. F. and Kilpatrick, D. J. 1995. Effect of forage digestibility and type of concentrate on nutrient utilization by lactating dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Research 62: 15–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huhtanen, P. 1993. The effects of concentrate energy source and protein content on milk production in cows given grass silage ad libitum. Grass and Forage Science 48: 347–355.Google Scholar
Huhtanen, P., Jaakkola, S. and Saarisalo, E. 1995. The effects of concentrate energy source on the milk production of dairy cows given a grass silage-based diet. Animal Production 60: 31–40.Google Scholar
Keady, T. W. J., Mayne, C. S. and Marsden, M. 1998. The effects of concentrate energy source on silage intake and animal performance with lactating dairy cows offered a range of grass silages. Animal Science 66: 21–33.Google Scholar
Keady, T. W. J. and Murphy, J. J. 1998. A note on the preferences for, and rate of intake of, grass silages by dairy cows. Irish journal of Agricultural and Food Research 37: 87–91.Google Scholar
Lofgren, P. D. and Warner, R. G. 1972. Relationship of dietary caloric density and certain blood metabolites to voluntary feed intake in mature wethers. Journal of Animal Science 35: 1239–1247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayne, C. S. and Gordon, F. J. 1984. The effect of type of concentrate and level of concentrate feeding on milk production. Animal Production 39: 65–76.Google Scholar
Phipps, R. H., Sutton, J. D., Weller, R. F. and Bines, J. A. 1987. The effect of concentrate composition and method of silage feeding on intake and performance of lactating cows. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 109: 337–343.Google Scholar
Sloan, B. K., Rowlinson, P. and Armstrong, D. G. 1987. A note on concentrate energy source for dairy cows in mid lactation. Animal Production 45: 321–323.Google Scholar
Sloan, B. K., Rowlinson, P. and Armstrong, D. G. 1988. Milk production in early lactation dairy cows given grass silage ad libitum: influence of concentrate energy source, crude protein content and level of concentrate feeding. Animal Production 46: 317–331.Google Scholar
Steen, R. W. J., Gordon, F. J., Mayne, C. S., Poots, R. E., Kilpatrick, D. J., Unsworth, E. F., Barnes, R. J., Porter, M. G. and Pippard, C. J. 1995. Prediction of the intake of grass silage by cattle. In Recent advances in animal nutrition 1995 (ed. Garnsworthy, P. C. and Cole, D. J. A.), pp. 67–89. Nottingham University Press.Google Scholar
Sutton, J. D., Cammell, S. B., Beever, D. E., Haines, M. J., Spooner, M. C. and Harland, J. I. 1991. The effect of energy and protein sources on energy and nitrogen balances in Friesian cows in early lactation. In Energy metabolism of farm animals (ed. Wenk, C. and Boessinger, M.), pp. 288–291. European Association for Animal Production publication no. 58.Google Scholar
Sutton, J. D., Daley, S. R., Haines, M. J. and Thomson, D. J. 1988. Comparison of dried molassed and unmolassed sugar-beet feed and barley at two protein levels for milk production in early lactation. Animal Production 46: 490 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Thomas, C., Aston, K., Daley, S. R. and Bass, J. 1986. Milk production from silage. 4. The effect of the composition of the supplement. Animal Production 42: 315–325.Google Scholar
Yan, T., Gordon, F. J., Agnew, R. E., Porter, M. G. and Patterson, D. C. 1997. The metabolisable energy requirement for maintenance and the efficiency of utilisation of metabolisable energy for lactation by dairy cows offered grass silage-based diets. Livestock Production Science 51: 141–150.Google Scholar